The Stereotype
by Hilam
Summary: Naruto was feared by the villagers in canon They were wrong. What would happen if they were right? If the Demon was actually dangerous? How would that effect the Naruto Universe? [COMPLETE] [REWRITE PENDING]
1. Chapter 1 - Introduction

"Lord Hokage, the Kyuubi has resurfaced and is making a scene in the middle of town. What are your orders?"

The Third sighs.

'_I have been blind for too long. My trust in my predecessor has left me unable to see what needed to be done.'_

He looked over at a painting of the smiling Fourth Hokage on his wall.

'_I'm so sorry Minato. I cannot endanger the village, not for a promise I made to a dead man.'_

He looked back at the shinobi in his room, his eyes hardening.

"Seal it away. We will not endanger the village any more than we already have. I cannot allow him to rampage through my village."

* * *

><p>A blonde haired whiskered child stands in the middle of the street, red chakra pouring off of him in waves. Shop stalls lie scattered around him, blown over and smashed to bits. Little bits of human gore are sprayed onto him and spread all across the streets, a teddy bear hangs off of the roof; blood slowly dripping on the ground. Suddenly, seven ANBU shinobi appear, each of them performing the same series of hand signs. They bit their thumbs and smash their hands on the ground.<p>

A large cloud of white smoke forms where the shinobi were located, centered on the small child. When it clears five pillars stand in a pentagram shape around him. The pillars were decorated with different animal heads, but they all shared one common factor; each of them had a panthers head at the very top, frozen in the middle of its roar, facing threateningly towards the demon in the middle.

Soon, chains of pure chakra began to form between each of the pillars. The demon in the middle lets loose a mighty roar as a large red claw sprung out of the cloak on his back and made a swing at the pillars. It was deflected by one of the chains.

The child's face contorted into one of unnatural anger. He bared his teeth;

"**I WILL MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER!"**

The forming of the chains sped up. Soon they formed a pentagram, surrounding the demonic child. The red chakra began swiftly flowing away, being absorbed by the chains. The demon growled, and tried to once more lash out at the offending object. This time however, there wasn't even a need to deflect the arm; it was simply absorbed as soon as it got close to the chains. The child crouched down low to the ground, his nails digging deep into the dirt below.

"**I WILL MAKE YOU PAY, HOW DARE YOU SEAL ME INSIDE OF THIS WEAK, PATHETIC MEATBAG. HIS BODY IS ALREADY BURNING UP, EVEN WITH THIS MINISCULE AMOUNT OF CHAKRA. YOU CAN NEVER DEFEAT M-"**

At that moment, all of the red chakra disappeared. The child's limbs gave way, his body hitting the ground with a loud thud. The pillars disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. The ANBU stood up, relieved.

"The threat has been eliminated."

A dog masked one with a gravity defying grey hairdo stepped out. He calmly walked over to the child, giving him a quick once over. Deciding that he was healthy enough he slung the kid over his shoulders and turned to a cat masked ANBU.

"Cat, inform Lord Hokage that the mission has been successful. We have dispatched of the threat and that I will be moving him to the Shīru-shitsu right now. He is too dangerous to be free, at least with the village's current strength."

Dog turned around, and made to body flicker away. At the last second he hesitated and turned around again.

"Also Cat, tell him that I agree with his decision."

Cat nodded.

"Yes sir."

Both of them disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

><p>Kakashi felt himself phase through the wall. Shuddering a little bit at the uncomfortable feeling he made sure that the child was still secured on his back as he began moving down the hallway. It was completely silent and pitch black here. It was unnerving, it was unnatural. This was not supposed to be here and Kakashi wanted to get out as fast as possible.<p>

'_I wish that Minato had been right. How could he have been so mistaken on what the sealing technique would do? There's no way he would have told us to give the kid a normal life if he had known what the result would be?'_

He shrugged, and decided that he had walked far enough. He crouched down and let the child slide onto the floor. Squatting down on the ground, he hesitated.

'_I need to do this. A shinobi must always put the mission first. A shinobi must never show any weakness.'_

Kakashi stood up and began walking away.

"Goodbye kid. I wish that things weren't this way, I wish that they were different."

Suddenly, the hallway started lighting up red. Kakashi wheeled around and there the demon was again, red chakra once again pouring off of him in waves.

"**It doesn't need to be this way, Kakashi. You could always be dead."**

The demon lunged after him, due to years of training, Kakashi was able to dodge his attack. He jumped past him and began running towards the end of the hallway, the demons chakra invoking a deep, primal sense of fear.

"**Come back, human. We only just STARTED!"**

The demon leapt after Kakashi, a claw of chakra forming and missing him by a hair's breadth. He pulled himself together and turned to face his foe.

It didn't last long; Kakashi launched a kick at the child's midriff and slammed him straight into the wall, leaving an imprint of his young body. Travelling the last few feet to the wall, he put his hand on it and said the two final words that this child would hear for an incredibly long time.

"Goodbye, Naruto."

And then he was gone, leaving Naruto embedded in the wall, red chakra still seeping off of him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

**Shīru-shitsu: ****Sealing chamber. Let me know if this isn't correct, I used Google Translate.**

**Now let's see if I make it to chapter 2, hope you enjoyed reading! Updates should be daily, if not every other day.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Creation of a Weapon

**A/N:**

**Second chapter completed, this one is damn near 2000 words, including the authors note. I'm going to try to continuously increase the length of these, up to +/- 3k words a chapter. I'm still aiming for once a day updates, although that might slow down a little bit closer to the end of this week for real life reasons. I have the entire story planned out at this point though, which is pretty cool I guess. **

**Do keep in mind that this is my first fic. Any mistakes I attribute to either that or because I'm not a native speaker ^_^. Thanks so much for reading and feel free to review!**

'_**How long has it been?'**_

Kyuubi ponders, leaning against what he thinks is a wall. He can't be sure though. He might be the most powerful bijuu in existence right now, but even he can lose track of time due to complete sensory deprivation.

'_**I hate being here. I hate having lost to the humans. I hate that my host is so WEAK!'**_

Slowly red chakra begins to light up the room. A single tail appears on the boys behind. Kyuubi lets out a roar of anger and begins rhythmically hitting the walls. Letting out screams of rage he throws his entire being into the punches, harsh, painful sounding thuds echo through the hallway. Blood drips down from his knuckles.

Suddenly, his fists seemed to break through.

'_**There's no way that worked.'**_

The voice of the Third Hokage sounds throughout the prison. To one that hasn't heard the sound of a voice for seemingly an eternity, it sounds odd.

"Hello, Naruto."

Kyuubi glared at the hole.

"**I am not my host, human. I have taken over completely. He is dead."**

_**Flashback**_

He's no longer in his apartment, that's for sure. So where is he?

The blonde haired child looks around fearfully, unsure of his surroundings, not sure if he's safe. He hears the water dripping from the leaking pipes. Establishing that he is not currently in danger he begins walking, gradually establishing that he is in a sewer. At first he tries to not walk in the yucky water, but he soon stops caring.

Suddenly, a warm voice calls out to him.

"**Come, child. You are safe here."**

A sense of comfort unlike anything that Naruto had ever felt came over him. Instinctively he felt that he could trust this person. Suddenly not tired anymore, Naruto began running towards the voice; a huge smile on his face.

Eventually he felt the air become cooler, reaching out for the walls on either side of him, he noticed that they were gone. Taking another step forward he suddenly sunk deeper into the water. After a brief fit of panic he stated that it wouldn't go much higher than his hips. Letting out a sigh of relief he looked around, seeing absolutely nothing.

"H-H-Hello? Sir?"

Hesitantly he took another step. Deciding to continue in the same direction. Suddenly, the room lit up. In front of him there was a giant cage, many times the size of his apartment. Inside of it there sat a giant fox. Naruto yelped and jumped backwards. His survival instinct immediately telling him to run. Whatever sat in front of him now was dangerous.

"**Hello child, I'm so glad you finally came to visit!"**

The giant fox gave a toothy smile.

"**I'm your friend! You can trust me, Naruto."**

"Are you really my friend?"

"**What else would I be?"**

"I.. I don't know."  
>Naruto looked up at the ceiling, thinking.<p>

"I've never had a friend before."

The fox looked down at him fondly.

"**You do now."**

Naruto still hesitated. The fox leaned down to Naruto's level.

"**I know what it's like to be alone, I've been in here for so long that I've almost forgotten what the outside looks like. I haven't heard anything outside of my own thoughts for 7 years. You can trust me, I will be your friend. Why would I cut off the only contact that I have with the outside world?"**

Naruto smiled, nodded, and began running towards the fox. He finally had a friend, he finally wasn't alone anymore. He could finally talk to someone except for the Old Man. His life was about to become a million times better!

Then Naruto got within reach of the cage, and a giant claw swooped down on him, pulling him inside and ramming him against the wall.

"**You humans are all the same. Easy to fool."**

The fox said, bringing his other claw towards Naruto, nails stretched out.

"**Now then, I'll be taking your body. Any interference will result in your death."**

Then his claws pierced through Naruto, and the screams began.

**End Flashback**

"I don't particularly care."

The fox looked at Sarutobi, eyes wide.

"**What?"**

"I said, I don't particularly care. Many children in this village have died for less. His death has given us you. The mightiest weapon to have ever existed."

The fox grinned.

"Now then, let me make you an offer."

"**What could I gain by making a deal with you, human?"**

Sarutobi grinned.

"Freedom."

"**I'm listening."**

"Konohagakure will use you as a weapon. In return, you will be given your freedom for short periods of time."

Sarutobi stares the fox straight in the eyes.

"If you do not agree, I will leave you in here to rot."

Kyuubi closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought.

'_**If I do not agree, I will never be able to get out. The seal is too strong and the kid's body won't be strong enough for me to attain full power. If I accept his offer, I can both train the kids body, and have freedom every once in a while.'**_

Kyuubi smiled.

'_**And I have the opportunity for revenge.'**_

"**I accept."**

Sarutobi nodded.

"Excellent. I will release you soon. I have an assignment for you."

Slowly his head disappears from the wall.

A few hours later, at least, according to the fox's counting he feels something pulling him from the other side of the seal. He walks to the source and lays his hand on it. He is immediately pulled through to the other side, the light seemingly blinding. Soon though, his eyes adjust and he is able to see what is around him.

Twelve ANBU. All of them ready to perform the same technique that locked him in here. Turning around to see where exactly he came from he sees a small scroll lying on the floor, a circle drawn on it.

"**There will be no need for sealing today, humans. I have no desire to go back into that hellish hole. I will do what is asked of me."**

Obviously, he was ignored.

"Hello, Kyuubi. Are you enjoying your new-found freedom?"

"**Outside of being forced to be a filthy humans lapdog? It's great."**

Sarutobi's eyes harden.

"You will show me respect. Or I will lock you inside of that scroll and throw you in a lake of fire myself."

'_**Insolent whelp.'**_

"**Very well, what is my mission?"**

"Your mission, fox, is to distract the Iwigakure Jinchuuriki Han, also known as the Gobi. You will travel to Iwa, along with the ANBU that you see standing around you right now. They will enter, steal information on Iwa's shinobi movements. You will fight the Gobi and make sure that they do not have to deal with it."

"**Will I be forced back into my seal during travel, or will I be sealed away until we arrive in this village?"**

"You will be sealed away. Be grateful that you're still alive, fox. You've put this village through hell and back, it's time we get something for it in return."

"**Listen, human." **He growls, "**I do not care for the problems of your kind. In one thousand years, I will steal be alive. And everything and everyone I currently see around me will be turned to dust."**

The ANBU begin performing the sealing technique, and within moments, he falls unconscious.

"Goodbye, demon."

The fox feels the same pull. He puts his hand on the wall again and is transported through to the other side. He looks around, this time he's in the middle of a forest once again, surrounded by seemingly the same ANBU ninja as before. He sniffs the air and smells the scent of one of his brethren, the Five-Tailed Demon Whale Horse, the Gobi. He lets out a bloodthirsty grin as he looks around at the ANBU.

"**Permission to destroy?"**

The ANBU look at one another.

"Permission granted, Fox. You will return to this location in exactly 13.5 minutes. We will then seal you again and transport you to Konohagakure."

He grins, falls down on four limbs and tails begin to grow. He feels the Gobi in town, and he knows that the Gobi feels him too. The 6th tail emerges, an exoskeleton appearing over his hosts form. He lets out a deadly roar and leaps in the direction of his brother.

"**IT'S TIME TO PLAY!"**

'_**The little shit won't stand still! He keeps running away from me!"**_

The Kyuubi thought, growling as he ran.

'_**I will not allow him to make a fool out of me.' **_**"FIGHT ME GOBI! YOU COWARD!"**

Immediately he sensed his brother coming to a halt. Kyuubi kept running and as soon as the Iwa Jinchuuriki got into his sight, he leapt towards him.

"I'm sorry, Fox. Gobi isn't around. My name is Han, and I will defend my village."

Han dodges the foxes leap as a tail begins to grow out of his behind; he begins making hand seals and spits a ball of fire at the fox.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The Fox dives right into the fireball, not even flinching, and appears on the other side, both claws extended. He manages to claw Han right in the chest, a little bit of blood leaking out of the wounds. A second tail grows on Han.

"**You should let Gobi take over, human. You are too weak to face me."**

The fox opens his mouth wide and points his snout in the direction of Han. Black and purple energy begins gathering in front of his mouth, shooting out as a ball towards Han.

"**Bijuudama."**

Han's eyes widen as he quickly performs the substitution jutsu to dodge the ball of chakra. Landing behind a rock, he presses himself up against it.

"_The Kyuubi's power is absolutely incredible. This will be my last fight if I don't give in to the Gobi at least a little bit."_

He thinks, as he closes his eyes.

The Kyuubi stands on the mountain, looking over Iwagakure.

'_**Hmm. What building will I smash first? Maybe that really tall one over there. It might be fun though if I leave it for last, as a lead up. That small little school building seems really interesting to-'**_

He didn't even get to finish his thought before Han lept out from behind a rock, his eyes completely pink, the third tail now grown. Han impacted Kyuubi right in his center of gravity, both of them going tumbling down the mountain, brutally clawing at one another.

"**I swear Gobi, after I kill you I will destroy this entire pathetic village with your body!"**

Han's eyes widen as he spots, slightly too late, three tails aimed at different parts of his body. They strike.

Heart. Throat. Head.

Each tail strikes true, piercing straight through Han's body and exiting out the other side. His chakra cloak disappears as he falls to the ground, sliding off of the Kyuubi's tails .

"**Looks like I win."**

Kyuubi says, smiling at the gurgling figure of Han.

"I… have… failed…. my….. village….."

Han says, looking out over his village, blood oozing from his mouth.

"**Yes. Yes you have."**

Kyuubi says, as he lifts up all five of his tails.

"**I haven't killed in so long!"**

Kyuubi growls. And then his tails strike.

Kyuubi stands, looking out over Iwa. Deep in thought.

'_**That was interesting. If the Hokage continues giving me jobs like this, then this arrangement might not be so bad after all.'**_

ANBU appear around Kyuubi. One in a Cat mask holds up the scroll of sealing. Kyuubi willingly touches it and is pulled inside.

"We should leave, Dog."

"Yes. Let's head back."

Then they were gone, leaving panic and a dead jinchuuriki behind.

**A/N:**

**So I finished this chapter a little earlier then I originally expected. I suppose it's the excitement of finally actually writing something. It's pretty damn fun. **

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.**

**Next chapter should be out in 24-36 hours. **


	3. Chapter 3 - the World Reacts

A group of men sit around a table, talking softly to one another. Suddenly one of them clears his throat.

"The meeting has begun."

The men around the table quiet down, each of them focusing their gaze on two men; a large blonde muscled one, and one completely dressed in black.

"Members of the council, next to me stands the leader of Kumo's spy network. He has brought us information that I think you all should hear."

The man dressed in black steps forward.

"Gentlemen, I'll get straight to the point. Konohagakure has weaponised their Jinchuuriki."

Suddenly, the tension in the room sharply rose. The spy continued.

"The Kyuubi has slain one of Iwa's Jinchuuriki. The Gobi is dead."

A council member wearing a scarf spoke up.

"How is that possible? Konoha's Jinchuuriki should still be young, too young to properly do battle. How is it possible that he can defeat a full grown shinobi aided by a Bijuu?"

The Raikage spoke up.

"He has let the Bijuu take over."

The spy nodded.

"Yes. We aren't sure if this was a choice or if he was fooled by the Fox, but this is the only logical conclusion."

The Raikage looked at the spy.

"You can go now, Yashi."

"Yes, lord Raikage."

He said, walking out, making no sound as he walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

"Lord Raikage, we need to take action immediately! This Jinchuuriki may not be allowed to walk around freely. If he possesses this much power at such a young age then his power will become absolutely ludicrous when he reaches maturity."

"No. There is no need to worry."

"With all due respect my lord, how could you say that? He is already able to defeat the Five Tailed Whale Horse at the age of 8. Imagine his power when he reaches 16, imagine it when he reaches 24."

"I have. It will not change too much more."

Confused glances were shared.

"Could you explain, lord Raikage?"

"Of course. Currently his body can handle no more than 6 tails of power. He cannot reach the same level as Kirabi can as the Fox has presumably beaten his host into submission. A Jinchuuriki's greatest power is realized when Beast and Man work together as one. The Kyuubi has destroyed his only chance of beating Kumo by destroying his host."

A council member began to chuckle.

"Beautiful irony."

"Indeed, councilman."

* * *

><p>"What is it, Zetsu?"<p>

They were all together for once, no holograms. Each of them stood on top of their respective pedestals, a giant statue filling in the space in between them.

"Lord Pain, the Gobi Jinchuuriki is dead."

The red haired man frowned.

"How? There shouldn't anyone strong enough to defeat him should either be reined in by their village or standing in this room."

"It seems like the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki has given himself to the Fox."

A grey haired man wielding a red scythe chuckled.

"Fucking idiot. Why did he think that would be a good idea?"

"Be quiet, Hidan."

"Hmph."

Pain looked around the room, staring at each member for a little while, judging their reaction to this news. Deidara looked cocky, not worried, even a little bit excited. Multiple members looked unfazed; Sasori, Tobi, Konan.

Itachi's eyes had slightly widened, this news had clearly surprised him.

"Itachi, knowing Konohagakure the way you do, did you expect this?"

Itachi dipped his head down, thoughtfully looking at the ground. After a moment he looked up again and stared pain straight in his purple-rimmed eyes.

"This is an unexpected development to say the least. The Third Hokage is by no means soft, but he has always felt a certain degree of lenience towards the Fourths son. I'm surprised that he gave permission to have him weaponised. Why-"

Hidan interrupted him.

"You're still fucking surprised? The dumbshit gave himself to the Kyuubi, of course the old guy is gonna have him used. It's that or put him down."

Pain glared at Hidan.

"He's correct, as much as I hate to say it. This development, while unexpected doesn't necessarily make our plan any harder."

Kakuzu spoke up.

"Doesn't it make our plan impossible? The Gobi is dead. We are now missing one of the nine."

"Kakuzu," Pain said "Bijuu reform if slain inside of a hosts body. They are beings constructed out of pure Chakra. Energy cannot be lost, only transferred from one party to the next."

"Just a moment," croaked Deidara, now worried. "does that mean we'll have to face the Gobi when he is at full power? That could be dangerous, right? Even my art might not be able to stop him."

"Hah!" Sasori spoke up "Your 'art' could not have defeated the Gobi even when sealed inside of a Jinchuuriki. You're disgusting clay statues are inferior to my puppets. I for one am not worried."

"Shut up Sasori! I'll blast each one of your puppets apart!" Deidara said, sticking both hand in his pouches filled with clay.

"Be quiet, both of you." Pain said. "I'm not worried. We will track the Gobi down and capture it when it reforms." Pain looked at each other member of Akatsuki again. "What I am curious about is whether Itachi and Kisame still feel confident enough in their abilities. They are no longer facing an inexperienced child. They are now fighting an opponent with thousands of years of battle experience. Their fight has become more difficult."

Kisame grinned, each one of his shark-like teeth reflecting the small amount of light in the cave. "We will be fine, lord Pain. It's still trapped in the body of an 8 year old, that will be its downfall."

Pain nodded. "Very well. I will trust your judgement."

He turned back to the rest of the group.

"Members of Akatsuki, it seems we may have less time to prepare than we initially expected. As soon as we detect the Gobi reforming, we will begin to move out. I expect each of you to know your targets. Me and Konan will take care of the Gobi, there is no need to worry. Now then. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>"Jiraiya, what are we going to do now?"<p>

The Third sat in his office, smoking his pipe staring out over his village. The village that he had sworn to protect, the village that he had made so many sacrifices for. He turned around, looking straight in the eyes of his old student.

"I have no idea, Sarutobi. I don't understand how this happened. Isn't the Shiki Fūjin supposed to lock the Kyuubi in completely? How is it possible that he has taken over?"

Sarutobi smiled sadly. "Naruto was tricked by the fox. It's unfortunate but I think the Fox is holding him hostage in his own mind."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Wait, he's not dead? Naruto is still inside?"

Sarutobi nodded.

"Sensei! That means that there's still hope!"

Sarutobi looked up at Jiraiya, confusion apparent in his eyes.

"Sensei, we can make adjustments to the seal, completely sealing off the fox for a period of time. Naruto will be forced to come out in order to make his body survive. Then, we can tell Naruto that the Fox is in fact a traitor. Then, Naruto will never go near the Fox ever again. The Shiki Fūjin will do its job, making sure that the Fox cannot get to Naruto!"

The Hokage shook his head sadly.

"No, Jiraiya. I cannot allow you to free Naruto. He has been under the Foxes control for too long. We cannot lose such a weapon if the chance of failure is so high. The village goes before any personal promises that I have made. The Kyuubi is too potent of a weapon to lose."

Jiraiya looked hurt.

"What? Sensei, we owe it to Minato. We promised him! We can always teach Naruto to work together with the Fox after! We can't just let the fox stay in control!"

"Yes. We can. Jiraiya, this is our own fault. Naruto was lonely, he didn't have anyone there to support him. I had my Hokage duties, and you had to run your spy network. We used this as an excuse to never have to be there for him. This made him vulnerable, easy to manipulate. We are just as much at fault, perhaps even more, than the fox is."

Then it was silent in the room. No one spoke for a while.

"You're right, Sensei." Jiraiya said, his voice a little shaky. "I just wish that it wasn't this way, I just wish that we could have prevented this. Sometimes, I despise the way that we're forced to live. Always sacrificing everything for our villages."

"Perhaps, one day we can change. For now though, this is the way it is."

Sarutobi smiled at him.

"Now, let's stop this regretful talk. Don't you have some hot springs to peep on?"

Jiraiya smiled.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Goodbye Sensei!"

And then he was gone, leaving behind an open window.

'_**God damn it brat, where are you?'**_

Kyuubi thought, running through the many sewage pipes that made up Naruto's mindscape.

'_**I need to speak to you. Goddamn it, this is the last time I'm giving someone their own room. He's staying in my cell from now on. He pulled the seal off anyway; there is no need for me to treat him nicely anymore.'**_

He finally arrived at the brat's room, a giant wooden door, large enough for even his true form to fit through, a soft white light shining through the cracks. Kyuubi slammed it open and was met with a fascinating sight.

In the room there were 3 people sitting down, Naruto, the human that had defeated and sealed him here, and his previous host.

"**Human, what are you doing here?"**

Kyuubi growled, pointing a claw at the one that had defeated him in combat.

"Why, I'm spending some time with my son of course! You seem to have done something to him though, he's not responding as he should. He keeps referring to you as his 'lord'."

The blonde man stood up, and pulled out a strange looking three pronged kunai.

"You will explain this to me, or I will be forced to destroy you."

Kyuubi grinned.

"**First off, human. I don't have to explain shit to you. Second, I am now the master of the brat's mindscape. I am almighty here. If I want to, I can make you disappear in an instant. It won't matter how you got here, you'll be gone."**

The blonde haired man glared at the fox, but soon regained his cool and sat down.

"Fine. What do you want?"

"**Your brat. You have defeated me in combat, I will allow you to say goodbye."**

The man smiled.

"So you are capable of emotions after all?"

"**Don't make me laugh."**

"I won't."

The blonde haired man turned around to face his son and leaned in close, Kyuubi was still able to pick up what exactly he was saying, due to him being the God of this world.

"Naruto, I know that you're not all there right now, but I still hope that you remember this. The Kyuubi is not to be trusted. He is a demon of the truest kind, please, if you ever do get the chance, take your body back. I want you to have a life of your own and so does your mother."

He turned to face the red haired woman.

"Kushina, it's time that we leave. We've done all for our son that we can. It's now up to him."

Kushina nodded, hugged her son who was still absently staring at a wall and glared at Kyuubi.

"Bye, Fox."

"**Get out."**

Both of them started slowly fading away.

"You won't get away with this, you realize that, ya know?" Kushina said.

"**Insolent Human. You still underestimate my power. The kid doesn't like hurting me anymore, he is mine now. And I will use his body to the fullest."**

Minato smiled.

"You do realize that that sounds really weird, right?"

Kyuubi growledat him.

"Just saying."

"**Get out of my domain."**

And then they were gone, leaving their son behind with the Demon Fox. A strange sense of déjà vu filed the Fox, he grinned.

'_**They left him behind with me again! Oh, the delicious irony.'**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Hiya! So I hope you guys liked this chapter. This is one of the most dialogue heavy chapters that I plan to write for this story, so if you didn't like it then I suppose that's a little bit of good news for you. If you have any comments or any criticism make sure to either PM it to me or to leave a review! Thanks so much for reading. The next chapter should be up 24 hours after this one goes up.**

**In total I plan on this story being around 50k words. If I had to judge where we currently are in the story I'd say we're about 1/10th of the way done. I might end it sooner because I feel like certain arcs/chapters are unecessary, but right now I don't see that happening. **

**Naruto is 8-9 years old here.**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Weapon Breaks

'_**It's been a while since they last 'employed' me. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm surprised. Did I go too far murdering Gobi?'**_

As soon as he finished that thought, he felt the pull signifying a summon again. He put his hand on the wall and was popped out on the other side. When his eyes adjusted to the light he looked around and was surprised to not see the human in Kage robes standing there. Instead, there was a different old man, one with bandages over one of his arms, and over the left side of his head. Behind him stood 7 men, dressed in black. The bandaged man cleared his throat.

"Hello there, Kyuubi. My name is Danzo, leader of ROOT."

Kyuubi shrugged.

"**I don't care who you are. Why am I here and what do you need me for? Do you serve Konoha still or am I under control of some other insignificant village?"**

"I still serve Konoha. I summoned you because I need you to do a job for me."

The Kyuubi smiles.

"**I was expecting to be summoned earlier, I was anxious to get out and kill something."**

"You're in luck, I want you to travel to Suna, find out whether they have a Jinchuuriki or not and if they do, slay it."

Kyuubi nods.

"You will be travelling along with the ROOT agents behind me, you are not a threat to Konohagakure, there is no need to seal you on the journey."

Kyuubi narrowed his eyes.

'_**This human dares call me not a threat? I will show him exactly how dangerous I am, how dangerous it is to underestimate a Bijuu."**_

"**Yes, sir."**

Danzo nodded his head at the Kyuubi, the ROOT agents formed a V shaped pattern with the Fox in the middle.

"Head out, gentlemen. Good luck."

Immediately they dart off. Soon, they've left the village very far behind. The Fox begins to analyse his environment.

'_**Not yet, not here. There are too many trees around. They can too easily flee. If the landscape has stayed the same we should be entering a desert fairly soon. They can't run from me there. I will slaughter every single one of them. I'll show that human. "Not a threat." Hmph.'**_

After a little while, they reached the desert. A sickening grin came over his face, his blood thirst becoming incredibly difficult to hide from the ROOT shinobi. They cross the border into the desert. As soon as the treeline disappears from sight, 4 tails sprout from his back. His hosts skin rips off of his body, his blood combining with his chakra cloak and forming a protective shell. The ROOT agents look over at Kyuubi.

"Stand down, Fox."

"**Go fuck yourselves."**

Three chakra claws emerge from his cloak, piercing straight through two of the ROOT operatives, their blood staining the desert sand. The last claw was dodged by another one of the ROOT agents, who landed on the ground, formed some hand seals and slammed his fists on the ground. The sand below the Kyuubi beginning to raise up and surround him. Immediately he leaps at the ROOT operative, ramming his claws through his heart and throat.

The 3 other ROOT members jump backwards. Two of them forming hand seals and spitting out beams of water, crossing them. The third operative began forming hand seals. Out of the two water beams a giant dragon formed, roaring in anger as it dived at the Kyuubi.

'_**Interesting strategy.'**_

The Kyuubi leapt to the side, the ROOT agents temporarily losing sight of him until he appears right in front of them, swatting one of his attackers away with a normal claw, piercing another one with a tail made out of chakra. The remaining one catches his flying comrade, dashing in the direction of the forest. The Kyuubi, having anticipated this course of action smiles cruelly. Two more tails sprout from his back, an exoskeleton growin on his small figure. He opened his mouth, black energy gathering in front of it in the form of a ball. He pointed his snout in the direction of the rapidly fleeing figure he speaks a single word.

"**Bijuudama."**

The black ball of energy flew in their direction, the ROOT agent looking back, his eyes widening in fear before it hit him in the back. He completely disintegrated along with the person that he carried.

"**Dead."**

The Kyuubi turned around, looking towards Suna.

'_**They spoke of a Jinchuuriki. I think I can sense Shukaku.'**_

He began dashing towards Suna.

* * *

><p><em>Five hours ago, Konoha.<em>

Sarutobi sits at his desk in his office, suddenly the door bursts open. A Weasel masked ANBU runs in.

"Lord Hokage, Danzo has sent the Kyuubi towards Suna."

SNAP. The pipe breaks in half, Sarutobi jumped up.

"Weasel. Gather as many ANBU as you can. I'm going to pay a visit to Danzo."

The ANBU disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

'_Let's pay my old comrade a visit.'_

He too disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Appearing in a dark room in front of Danzo, who is seated at a desk writing something on a piece of paper. Danzo sits up straight, seeing his old friend appear in the room.

"How did you get here, Sarutobi? I kept this place secret from everyone."

"That isn't important, Danzo. I need to know how and when you sent the Kyuubi to Suna."

Danzo chuckled, ignoring Sarutobi's question.

"He's going to cut Suna's military strength in half."

"How?"

"I've heard rumours of Suna possessing a Jinchuuriki of their own. I've sent the Kyuubi and six ROOT operatives to hunt him down and slay him."

Sarutobi's eyes widened.

"You sent SIX men?"

Danzo nodded.

"The Fox isn't a threat, he wouldn't dare rebel and risk getting locked in that seal forever."

Sarutobi slammed his hands on the desk.

"You fool! A few years mean absolutely nothing to him! He's millennia old! He'll murder them all! He knows that we will need him as a weapon eventually. You have just sent a bunch of your men to their deaths and you have endangered the entire land of Fire."

Danzo's hands begin to shake.

"I am personally going to fix your fuck-up, Danzo. But you WILL close down your organization and start acting under my orders. You are causing more problems than you are fixing."

With that, Sarutobi disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving behind a shocked Danzo.

* * *

><p>'<em><strong>I'm getting close to the other Jinchuuriki now. I can sense him.'<strong>_

Kyuubi is forced to stop as right in front of him the Kage that summoned him appears. Behind him a legion of the masked warriors.

"Hello, Kyuubi. I'm going to have to ask you to get back into the seal."

'_**I cannot defeat that many ANBU and the old man. They'll seal me before I can kill them all, and they might find a way to keep me in there even when this body dies. I need to play along for now.'**_

"**Very well. I cannot fight you. Not with that many men at your command. I will be sealed before I ever slay all of you. Bring the seal to me, Kage."**

Sarutobi held out his hand, one of the ANBU behind him placing the scroll in it. Sarutobi looked at it quickly, making sure that nothing was out of order and walked towards the Kyuubi, speaking in a soft tone so that only they could hear it.

"Thank you for giving me an excuse to shut down Danzo's organisation. He has been a thorn in my side for longer than I care to admit. I am forced to seal you now to keep up pretences in front of my ANBU, but you have my word that I will release you one day. You will taste blood again, Demon Fox."

The Kyuubi's eyes widened at this admission as Sarutobi held up the entrance to his seal. The Kyuubi slowly reigned in his chakra, the tails retracting one by one until eventually there were none left. Kyuubi gave the Hokage a meaningful look, and placed his hand on the scroll. Slowly he began being sucked inside.

"We will meet again, Fox."

And with that, he was back in the darkness.

**A/N:**

**This is a slightly shorter chapter. This one wasn't originally planned but it seemed wrong to do a time skip to the Chunin exams. I needed something in between that. So yeah, look forward to the next chapter I guess.**

**Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave any comments/criticism!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Turning Upon Your Owner

Four years had gone by. Four peaceful years. Four years with no major conflicts. Four years with no Bijuu. Four years with no Jinchuuriki. Four years with no betrayal.

'_It's been amazing.' _Hiruzen thought, looking out over his sun-lit village. _'I haven't had to worry about the Kyuubi, Orochimaru hasn't reared his ugly head in a very long time, Danzo has actually started helping me instead of working against me at every turn.' _

It had been a great four years. However, all of that was about to come to an end. In a few days, the Chuunin exams would take place in Konohagakure! Preparations were already being made, arenas were being set up, genin were being prepared, letters were being sent. All in all, everything was going very smoothly.

There was one thing weighing heavily on Hiruzen's mind though. _'This year Naruto would have gone up for his Chuunin exams. Instead, he's trapped inside of his own body, being held hostage by the Kyuubi. Who in turn has been trapped inside of a scroll.' _Absentmindedly, Sarutobi patted the chest area of his robes, the spot where he had kept the scroll for these past four years. Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.

"Lord Hokage, the Jounin are here to present the students that will be participating in the upcoming Chuunin exams."

Sarutobi walked back to his chair, sighing as he sat down and sparked up his pipe. "Come in."

In walked three people.

Asuma Sarutobi; a spiky haired bearded man, wearing a standard issue Konoha Jounin jacket, his seemingly perpetually lit cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth. Raising his hand in greeting towards Hiruzen, he stood at the left side of the room. His demeanour was relaxed, but his eyes were alert.

Right behind him, Kurenai Yuuhi walked in. She was the only female Jounin sensei currently serving. She was wearing her standard issue combat gear, essentially consisting of exclusively bandages complete with one red sleeve down the side. Being a Genjutsu specialist, she didn't exactly see the point in wearing heavy armour, neither did she have any obvious weapons on her. She stood next to Asuma.

The next in line was Might Guy. The oddest looking one; purely a Taijutsu specialist, he had one a standard issue Jounin jacket, complete with an absolutely amazing looking pair of green pants. His hair was in his standard bowl-cut, with an almost too perfect white shine to it. He gave a short bow of respect to the Hokage, and stood next to Kurenai.

Hiruzen sighed. "He's late again, isn't he?"

Asuma scratched the back of his head. "I suppose he is, then again, were you really expecting him to be on time?"

Hiruzen shrugged, leaning down to his desk to refill his pipe, lighting it using a candle that stood on his desk. "I had hoped that he would recognize the importance of this occasion and be on time for once. I should have known that he wouldn't be though."

Kurenai crossed her arms and frowned. "Kakashi's attitude is starting to get on my nerves. He should really treat this whole occasion with a bit more respect. It's bad enough that he does this on other meetings, but this really crosses the line. We're going to be talking about the future of his students, for God's sake!"

Gai suddenly raised his fist into the air, startling everyone in the room. "YES! I AGREE WITH THE YOUTHFUL KURENAI! KAKASHI'S ATTITUDE IS ABSOLUTELY DESPICABLE! HIS YOUTH MUST BE REKINDKLED!"

Gai fell down on one knee, looking straight at Hiruzen. "LORD HOKAGE, PLEASE ALLOW ME TO GO FIND MY ETERNAL RIVAL AND DRAG HIM HERE! I WISH TO COMPLETE THIS MEETING!"

Hiruzen nodded. "Permission granted, Gai. Bring him back here as quickly as you can."

Gai nodded, and dashed off. He returned not even 5 minutes later, carrying a complaining Kakashi on his back.

Hiruzen nodded. There he was, Kakashi Hatake; his gray hair gravity defying as ever, his forehead protector still shielding his borrowed Sharingan from the world, his purple mask still covering the bottom side of his face.

Gai set him down, forcing him to stand up straight. "LORD HOKAGE, I HAVE ARRIVED WITH MY ETERNAL RIVAL!"

Sarutobi smiled. "Thank you, Gai. Now we can finally start this meeting." He set down his pipe, folding his hands underneath his chin and looking each person in the room in their eyes for brief second. "Today, we are going to be talking about your students and their promotions. More specifically, their Chuunin promotions. I want each of your opinions on whether or not your student is ready for these exams. I will completely trust your judgement on this matter, and any casualties will not be blamed on me. It is up to you to accurately judge each of your students capabilities."

Hiruzen nodded at his son. "Asuma, please tell me whether or not your team will be participating in the Chuunin exams."

Asuma cracked his neck, and stepped forward. "Yes, Lord Hokage." He held up one finger. "I have been given the newest shinobi of the families Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi. These three families have worked together since the start of our village, and I intend to keep it that way. Not all of them may be equally ready for the Chuunin exams, but together they will persevere. I nominate each member of my team for the Chuunin exams."

Sarutobi scribbled something down on a piece of paper in front of him. "Very well. Kurenai, you're next."

Kurenai stepped forward and cleared her throat. "I have Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame. Each of my students families are renowned in our village, each of them possessing an interesting and powerful bloodline ability. They have shown teamwork, individual strength and the mind of a Shinobi. The only, ah, weaker link in the team is Hinata, but I believe that her team can help her work through her issues and that they are ready for the Chuunin exams." Kurenai nodded to herself. "Yes, I nominate my team to participate in the Chuunin exams."

Sarutobi nodded and continued writing. "Okay, Guy, you're next."

"Yes sir." Gai said, in a normal tone of voice for once. "The members of my team are Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee and TenTen Tamura. Each of them has shown a remarkable amount of skill for their age, Neji is one of the most talented members of the entire Hyuuga house, despite being part of the Branch Family. Rock Lee, my protégé. Despite not being able to use Ninjutsu, he has a tremendous amount of talent for Taijutsu. TenTen has shown a remarkable amount of talen for Fuinjutsu, creating her own weapon based fighting style. Each of them is more than ready for the Chuunin exams."

Sarutobi smiled. "You have a lot of faith in them. Good. It's good to be proud of your students." Sarutobi looked at Kakashi. "Your turn, Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded, and stepped forward. "The members of my team are Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Sai. Sasuke is a member of the unfortunately, ah, deceased Uchiha clan. He is a prodigy in every sense of the word, already having unlocked the full potential of his Sharingan. He is more than capable of participating in the Chuunin exams. Then we have Sakura Haruno. She is, unfortunately not as skilled as Sasuke. Not even close. She spends most of her time doling after him, hoping that he will eventually react to one of her advances. Sai is a special case. I recommend each of them for the Chuunin Exams."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "Even Sakura? It sounds like you do not have much faith in her abilities."

Kakashi nodded. "I do not. I think that she still doesn't see how dangerous being a Shinobi is. It got better after the encounter with Zabuza Momochi, she has shown an exceptional talent for Chakra control, perhaps a good candidate for medical ninja."

"Or a Genjutsu specialist," Kurenai piped up "I would be willing to teach her a few things, Kakashi. Noone in my team has a particular aptitude for Genjutsu anyway."

Kakashi nodded. "Thanks, Kurenai. I might take you up on that offer." He looked back at the Third Hokage. "Anyway, I think that she needs some more real experience. Her team can protect her, I have faith in that. I think that the Chuunin Exams will show her that she does need to train harder than she has been. I have faith in her."

Sarutobi nodded. "Good to hear, thank you very much. You all may leave now. Kakashi, I would like you to stay behind."

Kakashi walked up to Sarutobi's desk. "What's up, Lord Hokage?"

"I want you to know that I will be releasing the Kyuubi during the Chuunin exams. I wanted to inform you so you wouldn't be surprised at seeing Naruto's body walking around."

Kakashi shrugged. "Thanks, I suppose."

"It's no problem, now get out of here. I have more paperwork to do."

Eventually, the day of the Chuunin exams came. Hiruzen had woken up earlier than usual that morning, knowing that he had to speak to the Kyuubi again today. It always unnerved him, hearing such a deep voice come out of such a young body. He had made a promise though, and today was a good day to keep it. He called over several ANBU, just in case everything went south, and dripped some blood on the seal.

It had been so long. He had almost felt himself sink into madness multiple times, being forced to sit there in complete darkness for four whole years. He had discovered that even he wasn't completely immune to complete sensory deprivation.

Over the years, he had grown angry. He had always been angry, mind you, but he had grown even more angry. Vengeful almost. Every single day he pictured that face, the face of that old man that had put him in here. The last words spoken to him before his four year sentence, the promise that had not yet been kept.

He had felt his hosts body change, slowly growing and becoming more mature. He had felt the hormones rushing through his body, instantly stomped out by his malicious chakra. He had noticed Naruto's spirit getting stronger again over the years, capitalizing on his weakness, slowly becoming more and more independent. Luckily, the imprisonment had changed the brat too. He too was angry over broken promises. He had found himself getting a little attached to the brat, he was after all the only company that he'd had during all of these long years.

He'd tried to convince the brat that the old man wasn't nice, that he wasn't coming back. That they were going to be left in here forever. The kid had stayed optimistic though. He had always hoped.

But even that hope eventually faded. The boy became more and more quiet the longer their imprisonment went on, by the third year he'd barely even heard him anymore. Only when he had some particularly vengeful thoughts towards the old man Naruto spoke up, trying to get him to calm down. Foolish human, he was rage incarnate. He couldn't be calmed down!

It happened so suddenly that he was almost sure that he imagined it. Something that he hadn't felt in four years, something that he had hoped that he would feel. The almost irresistible desire to walk towards the wall, to lay his hand on it, he gladly obliged.

He was outside again, quickly holding up a hand to shield his eyes from the seemingly intense light. Soon his eyes adjusted and he looked around the room. He saw the Third Hokage stand there, flanked by several ANBU.

"Greetings, Kyuubi. Welcome back."

He hid his rage well, swallowing it all done for a more appropriate moment.

"**Greetings, human. It seems that you have finally made good on your promise. I must say that I was becoming very impatient. For what purpose have I been summoned?"**

Sarutobi crossed his arms.

"Yes. It has taken a while. I suppose I apologise."

'_**An apology won't save you, old man.'**_

"**Hmph."**

Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe.

"Now then, I have summoned you today because you are on guard duty. You will walk with me, watching over the Chuunin Exams and making sure that nothing goes overly wrong. I want you to stay close to me at all times, if you are ever separated from me by more than a few feet, you will be severely punished."

He nodded.

"**Fine. Will I be wearing this?"**

He pointed down at the ripped apart orange hoodie, the too small blue jeans, filled with holes and blood. Hiruzen shook his head.

"No. I will be getting you some new clothes, along with a cloak or something of that sort to hide your identity. I want as few people knowing that you are here as possible, if you can disguise your energy then that would be greatly appreciated."

"**I cannot."**

Hiruzen shrugged and snapped his fingers. "That's too bad." An ANBU came forward, carrying a new set of clothes, along with a full body cloak, covering every recognizable feature on his body. "Put that on."

As soon as he got dressed, they headed out. It was a day filled with interesting activities for the humans, but not so much for him. The only thing that he really noticed was a strong smell of snake, and the old man telling him to watch out for it. Nothing else interesting happened. He quickly found himself distracted and turned to his mindscape for a distraction.

'_**Brat, are you there?'**_

A weak response came. _'Yeah, barely. I told you that the Old Man would make good on his promise. We're free!'_

He chuckled. _**'I suppose we are. I have a surprise for you, kid. It'll be something that you'll enjoy. I can't give it to you yet though. The time isn't right.'**_

'_If I didn't know better, I'd think that you had started to enjoy my company.'_

He snorted._** 'Yeah, right. Now be quiet brat, I think something is happening.'**_

He was wrong, of course. Nothing was happening at all. It was more insignificant humans beating each other up, and failing at tests.

A few days passed this way, he eventually found himself in a giant colloseum, standing next to the old man who was dressed in his Kage rob es. He knew though that underneath those robes the old man had his combat gear on.

This morning, Hiruzen had warned him that there would most likely be some fighting today. He had been ordered to stay as close as he possible could.

He sniffed the air. It smelled of Snake. He leaned over to the old man.

"**It smells of snake. Are you sure that everyone here can be trusted?"**

Hiruzen shook his head. "No. Where is the smell coming from?"

He turned his head, continuously sniffing the air. **"That one, right next to you, the one that has his face covered."**

The Third's eyes widened. "Thank you. Keep a special eye on him. We will be fighting him later today."

He smiled. **"Good."**

Some time passed, kids fought each other some more until eventually feathers began to fall over the stadium, every civilian there falling asleep. Suddenly, the fighting began. The Snake leaped at the Hokage, dragging him towards a rooftop nearby. He jumped after them, staying incredibly close to the Hokage. As soon as they landed on the rooftop, four children stood at different spots around the building, forming hand seals and putting up some sort of barrier. Hiruzen glared at the Snake.

"Orochimaru, how surprising to find you here."

The man in the robes, apparently named Orochimaru chuckled. "HI, Sensei. Did you miss me?"

Hiruzen's face stayed cool. "Not particularly, no. Why are you here? Why are the Suna and Sound shinobi attacking my village?"

Orochimaru chuckled again. "Well, the answer to both of those questions is the same. To destroy the village. We are going to tear down the hidden leaf village. Bit by bit, until there is nothing left."

Hiruzen smiled. "You will find that quite difficult, my traitorous student. See, I'm not here alone. This cloaked figure here behind me is actually a bit of a secret weapon that we have kept. He's going to kill you, and I'm going to help him. I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and today I will correct some of them!" The Third Hokage threw off his kage robes, revealing his black ninja gear underneath it.

Kyuubi smiled, he too threw off his cloak. He sunk down on four limbs, four tails sprouting from his behind, his skin ripping off, his blood forming a protective cloak around him. **"You will die today, Snake."**

Orochimaru's eyes widened. "You enslaved the Kyuubi? How? Why? Wh-"

He didn't get much further before the Kyuubi leapt at him.

"**I. AM. NOONE'S. SLAVE!" **

He roared, one of his tails lashing out at Orochimaru who barely managed to dodge out of the way, the tail sinking deeply into the roof. Orochimaru barely stood still before his old mentor came from his left, swinging at him with a recently summoned polearm. Orochimaru was forced to jump up to dodge the devastating swing. Looking down, he suddenly no longer saw the Kyuubi. Instantly his gaze shifted to above him, a red shape rushing down towards him, his claws and tails extended.

"**DIE, SNAKE!"**

The tails and claws struck true, thrusting deep inside of his shoulders and abdomen, respectively. Orochimaru was forced down towards the ground, where Sarutobi was already waiting, forming hand seals.

"Doton: Kengan no Jutsu!"

Rock surrounded Hiruzens arms, as he jumped up to meet the fox, sandwiching Orochimaru's body between his earthen fists and the Fox's chakra claws.

Orochimaru screamed out in pain, feeling his spine snap, not having been prepared for this absolute onslaught. If he could get a moments rest he could use the Edo Tensei, reviving the three Hokage's to fight for him!

But there was no way he was getting that rest. Not with a now broken spine. Orochimaru fell to the ground, unable to move. The demon Fox stalked towards him, claws raised.

Hiruzen held up his hand. "Stop, Fox. There is no-"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence before the fox's claws and tails were rammed inside of Orochimaru's body. His head being completely obliterated with a single strike.

Hiruzen glared at the fox. "There was no need for that. He was incapacitated."

The fox turned around, facing Hiruzen. **"We're locked in here, correct? With no one being able to get to us?"**

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes."

The fox grinned. **"Good."**

A fifth tail grew, then a sixth. An exoskeleton formed over his chakra cloak. He raised his snout to the air, black chakra gathering in front of it in the form of a ball.

"**Bijuudama."**

The fox pointed his snout at the Third Hokage, the ball flying straight towards him. Luckily, the Third managed to dodge it, barely landing on his feet. Hiruzen was forced to immediately raise his staff however, as the Kyuubi was already in his face, lashing out with tails, claws and teeth.

"STOP FOX! YOU'LL BE SEALED FOREVER IF YOU CONTINUE!" Hiruzen shouted, beginning to feel tired at the Fox's relentless onslaught.

"**Oh, really?" **The fox asked. **"And who exactly is going to give that order when you're DEAD?"**

And with that, one of his tails got through Hiruzen's guard, piercing straight through his throat.

'_**Hey kid, here's your surprise!'**_ He thought, throwing a gurgling Hiruzen aside. _**' I killed the old man.'**_

A scream of pure misery sounded throughout his mindscape.

**A/N: So Hi, this chapter is by far the longest one yet, clocking in at 3.3k words not including the authors note. I said in a previous chapter that I would not be writing anymore dialogue heavy chapters. I guess I lied, I apologize. If you guys enjoyed, feel free to leave me praise. If you didn't, leave me constructive criticism. Thanks so much for reading, guys! **


	6. Chapter 6 - Destroying the Leash

**A/N:  
>I attempted a different style of writing dialogue last chapter, it might be the correct one. I honestly don't know. According to some of my friends, I should keep using it. So I will. If anyone prefers the older one make sure to let me know and I'll switch back. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!<strong>

He had just murdered the Old Man.

'_**It's the perfect crime! With all the fighting going on I can get away with it scott free, I can blame it on the Snake! No one will know that it was me. The only problem are those ANBU trying to make their way inside of the barrier, but with a bit of luck they won't survive this battle.'**_

Suddenly the Kyuubi fel the Shukaku's energy coming from the forest, he raised his head towards it. _**'Looks like I get to be reunite with one of my brothers. Interesting.' **_ He thought, shooting off towards the forest, bursting straight through the barrier.

He didn't have a very relaxing run. Despite all of the delicious death and misery all around him, there was a little voice in his head berating him for what he just did.

'_YOU MONSTER! How could you kill the old man! I thought that you were becoming different, I thought that maybe you had the potential to be a good person! Maybe you could have helped the village, maybe you could have helped me! Instead, you keep killing everything that I hold dear. You keep murdering. I see now that you are just a monster. You are incapable of any feelings that aren't rage.'_

'_**Shut your mouth, brat. I don't care what a miserable human thinks of me. I wanted my revenge, and I got it. Be quiet before I completely annihilate you.'**_

'_I can't believe I feel betrayed, I should have expected you doing something like this. You're unbelievable.'_

The Kyuubi smiled to himself as he leaped across the rooftops, casually slaughtering entire platoons of both Leaf and Sand shinobi with his tails.

'_**I am evil incarnate. Human life is completely insignificant to me. Hell, everyone that is weaker than me is insignificant.'**_

'_Karma will catch up to you. I have to believe that or I'll go insane.'_

'_**I look forward to seeing what an insane you looks like, brat.'**_

He continued running, eventually reaching the source of his brothers power.

'_This guy is incredibly strong,.' _Sasuke thinks as he fights Gaara and breathes heavily, he dodges a tendril of sand shot at him, hiding behind a tree. _'He's already taken out Sakura, I need more power to defeat him.'_

"Sai?!" Sasuke yells, hoping that his teammate will answer and help him fight the Demon. Sai doesn't show up however, leaving him to fight the beast on his own, wanting to push him to unlock the maximum potential of his Sharingan.

'_Sasuke thinks that he's been left behind, that he needs to make a stand now.'_ He steps out from behind the tree, looking closely at the tendrils of sand shooting in his direction. _'He thinks that he has to see them, he has the Sharingan, he should be able to dodge them.' _

Suddenly, his vision becomes clearer, an extra tomoe appears in each of his eyes, the attacks slow down significantly, allowing Sasuke to dodge with ease. _'I can see. I can DODGE!'_

Sasuke leaps at Gaara, pulling out a Kunai from a pouch on his hip. Gaara's eyes widen.

"You will not END MY EXISTENCE!" He screams, a manic tone in his voice. Suddenly, his eyes close. Sand bursts out from his gourd, surrounding him, forming a new more bestial body around him.

"**I'm **going **to **end **YOURS! MOTHER TELLS ME TO!"**

'_What is he talking about? His mother?' _Sasuke thought, dodging 3 more tendrils that flew at him. _'He got stronger!' _

Gaara laughed maniacally, sand rising all around him, flying at Sasuke.

Suddenly, a red creature appeared in between them, an exoskeleton on his back, six tails waving around calmly.

"**Hello, Brother."**

Kyuubi raised up, his eyes fixed on his his brother.

"**You are trapped inside of a host, and you haven't taken him over yet? You're weaker than I expected."**

Shukaku started at the Kyuubi.

"**YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND," **He screamed, voice filled with fear **"THE KID REFUSES TO GO TO SLEEP! I CAN'T TAKE OVER!"**

The Kyuubi grinned. **"You need him to go to sleep to take over? Weakling."**

Shukaku flinched. **"THAT'S NOT ALL! THE SEAL IS ALSO REALLY STRONG I CANT BREAK THROUGH!"**

Kyuubi glared at him in disgust. **"You are telling me that you are unable to trick a child into walking close to your cage? Are you really that stupid?" **He smiled. **"I know you only have one tail, but this is incredibly disappointing even for you!"**

"**HE ALREADY THINKS THAT I'M HIS MOTHER! I CAN'T LET HIM SEE ME OR HE'LL KNOW THAT I'M NOT!"**

"**That is unimportant. I don't actually care about your troubles. I am just disappointed in you, that's all. Now, get out of my sight. This is my turf. I will have my revenge against this goddamn town and you will not deny me it."**

Shukaku frowned **"DO I HAVE TO? IT'S SO BORING INSIDE!"**

"**Then DO something about it, Tanuki. Get out of here. I grow tired of your voice."**

With that, Shukaku turned and began running in the direction of Suna. Kyuubi smiled and looked down towards the forest floor. Suddenly, he spotted them. Those cursed eyes, the Sharingan. Kyuubi slid down the tree that he was sitting on and landed on the ground, next to the black haired Uchiha brat.

"**Brat. Who are you?"**

Sasuke's eyes widened in fear. "I am Sasuke Uchiha. Who are you?"

"**I am the Kyuubi. Listen, I have something very important to tell you. There are more of you out there, more that possess those cursed eyes. You must be very much so aware of Madara Uchiha. He is still alive. Make sure that he dies, in a very painful way of you can."**

"Who is Madara Uchiha?"

"**The only person in the entire world that has the power to control me. I want you to know something brat, and I want you to remember it. Those eyes you have hold power. A lot of it. In fact."**

Kyuubi smiled. He hated those eyes. Why not eliminate another pair from existence? He reached up with his hands, spreading his fingers in front of Sasuke's eyes.

"**They hold too much."**

His fingers thrust into Sasuke's eye sockets.

**A/N:**

**Sorry for both the delay in posting and the shorter chapter. I am ashamed to admit that I sort of lost my muse and had to take a bit of break in regaining it. If this chapter is of lower quality than the others then I apologise. The next one will be better. Unfortunately, it won't be posted tomorrow due to some, ah, real life issues. It'll be up on Monday, and then daily posting should continue. If you guys are interested in another fic from me, one that doesn't revolve around the Kyuubi as much then you should look forward to November. I hope to have this one finished then, and to start one that I've always wanted to write.**

**An actual friendship fic between Naruto and Sasuke. No romance, just two badass motherfuckers working together, two best friends. **

**Should be pretty sick, I'm excited about it!**

**Alright, hope you enjoyed reading, and see you in +/- 48 hours.** **This chapter wasn't beta'ed as my beta was busy. I'm sorry for any errors, any following chapters will be of higher quality.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Taking what is Yours

Sasuke screamed, his hands immediately reaching up towards where his eyes used to be. "What have you done!?"

"**Taken out a threat."** Kyuubi said, emotionlessly. **"Those eyes are too powerful to be allowed to exist. Be glad that I don't fully kill you." **

Sasuke collapsed, hitting the floor. "I might as well be dead. I can no longer avenge my clan."

Kyuubi chuckled. **"Now, that wasn't a very smart thing to say."** He wheeled around, making his hand as sharp as possible and pierced through Sasuke's chest. **"Goodbye, Uchiha." **He said, pulling his hand out from his chest again. **"You won't be missed."**

Kyuubi turned around, looking off towards the sunset.

'_**Now what do I do?' **__He pondered. __**'There is strength in me yet untrapped. The brat has potential strength that I can't access, even with the amount of strength that he currently has he's blocking me out.' **__Kyuubi grinned. __**'How interesting! To be able to withstand me at full power, even when so weak! Maybe this kid did inherit some of his fathers strength.' **__Kyuubi turned around, facing towards the village now. __**'I doubt that I'll ever get to see it if I destroy his village though, and being immortal does get boring. He could provide an interesting distraction, so that's not an option as much as I want it to be.' **__He scratched his chin. __**'I can't reason with him, he hates me more than anything in the world. Can't blame the brat either, I've taken control over his body, I've killed everything that he held dear, I've slain many from his village, I've taken his own parents away from him when they already had such a small amount of time together, I've murdered a potential friend, I've exposed him to things that a human that young should never have seen.'**_

_Kyuubi chuckled again. __**'Man, looking back at it, I've really been a giant asshole towards the kid. Usually I just kill people and get it over with, but I really made him suffer.' **__A strange feeling came over Kyuubi. __**'Maybe I should try to make it up to the kid, he's been really good the last few years. The only time he's really spoken up was when I killed the old man. There should be some sort of reward for that.' **__He scratched his head. __**'What could I give him though? I can't exactly resurrect people, nor do I know anyone that can. I can't give him his body back, for that would kind of take me out of the picture.'**_

_Suddenly, realization hit the Fox. __**'Wait a minute, I can give him his body back! He's released the seal, I can take a break, sleep for a few years. I'll let the brat have his body, this will allow me to sit back and spectate, and with the seal no longer intact I can channel my Chakra into his body at any time, so he won't die! God, I'm so fucking smart.'**_

_Kyuubi focused on Naruto's energy in his mind. _

'_**Brat! I have a surprise for you.'**_

'_Does it involve murdering someone I care about? Oh wait, I no longer have anyone left that I care about. Thanks Fox.'_

'_**Be quiet brat, you're actually going to like this surprise. See, I think that you've been really good the last few years. So I am going to let you have your body back.'**_

_Hope entered the voice in his mind. 'Really? You're going to let me have my body back, just like that?'_

_Kyuubi scoffed. __**'Of course not, brat. I'm not going to give you full, permanent access to your body ever again. If I gave you that, you'd find a way to either kill yourself, and me with you, or seal me up again. I have no desire to be back in that cage. No, I am going to give you temporary access to your body. I am interested to see what you'll do with it. Immortal life does get boring after a while, and you may provide me with an interesting distraction. I sense that you have power in you, brat, and I am curious to see what it is.'**_

'_I should have known,' a wistful tone entered the voice. 'I really want my body back, but I guess this'll have to do. How are we doing this, Fox?'_

'_**It's very easy really, I am going to, ah, take a step back if you will. You are going to take a step forward and assume control over all of your motor functions again. I am going to sit back, and watch your every move, read your every thought to make sure that you don't betray me. And then you may do whatever you wish, as long as it doesn't negatively impact me. Hell, if you entertain me I may be persuaded to give you access to your body for longer periods of time. I want to see what you have hidden within.'**_

'_Fine.'_

_The Kyuubi readied himself; voluntarily giving up control over a body was very difficult. It took a lot of time and study to see your mind and your body as two separate objects, and it took even more to be able to separate them without permanently damaging either. It was kind of like pulling a branch from a tree perfectly, so that you could put it back later. It required an incredible amount of precision, care and preparation. Kyuubi had all of these except for one, preparation. He had neither the time nor the patience to spend months gathering the different herbs required to induce the trance. He'd fix any damage that occurred later. Right now, he just wanted to see what the kid would do. _

'_**Have fun, brat.'**_

He took a deep breath, real air filling his lungs again. He tried to open his eyes but immediately shut them again after being blinded by the light.

'_That hurt.'_ He thought, forcing his eyes to open. _'That isn't important. I've had worse. I need to see, did he tell the truth?' _Suddenly he saw trees, leaves, sky. He was free. _'At least, until the Fox decides that he wants out again.'_ He laughed, a higher voice now coming from his body. "This is great! I'm finally out! " He turned around, noticing a pink haired figure lying in front of a tree. He walked over to it and turned it around. It was a her, she was unconscious.

"I wonder if she knows who I am. I wonder if anyone in the village knows that the Kyuubi wasn't the only one inside."

He turned towards the village again. "I can't take that risk though. I need to leave, find a safe place where I can recoup my strength."

'_Fox! Lend me some of your Chakra if you want to see what I can do. It's dangerous here.'_

'_**Already? Fine. I suggest heading south. Not very many Leaf shinobi patrol there. Hell, we'll be lucky if we see any people there at all. It'll be a good place to train.'**_

Naruto nodded. _'Fine. Anything else?'_

'_**Actually, brat, yes. Find a fox, a nice, healthy one. We're going to give me a different body for now.'**_

Naruto nodded, and began walking. _'Ocean, here I come.'_

It was a beautiful day, the sun shined over the endless ocean, a soft breeze played with the blonde hair of the figure that stood there, looking out over the ocean. At first glance, he looked like any normal tourist. If you looked a little closer however, you could tell that this was no ordinary human. He had whisker marks on his cheecks, his nails were far longer than they should be, his black shirt had small tears and rips all over it, the bigger ones sewed back together with a staggering amount of skill. His eyes drifted over the ocean, a rare feeling of peace came over him as he sat there, looking at something that preceded both him and the beast inside of him by thousands of years.

'_**Actually brat, I was here before that was created.'**_

Naruto ignored the Fox, immediately his peaceful mood was gone, replaced by an incredible amount of hatred.

'_Thanks for ruining my moment, Kyuubi. I appreciate it.'_

'_**Be quiet, brat. You still haven't found me a fox. Are you going to get on that?'**_

Naruto sighed and pushed himself off of the ground. _'Fine, I have some questions for you first though. Why are you being so pleasant? You've rarely spoken to me the last 5 years, and now you suddenly decide to come out and talk to me? Why?'_

'_**It's really not that complicated. I noticed something while I was in the seal originally, it was taking my Chakra and transferring it to you, slowly getting your body used to it so that you could eventually use it in battle. I wondered why this was the case for a very long time, but felt that it wasn't important enough to spend a lot of time thinking about.'**_

Naruto nodded. _'It seems logical enough, whoever sealed you in here wanted me to be able to make use of your power, why is that so odd?'_

'_**Because it implies that we need to work together, the amount of Chakra that entered into your system is only enough to give you your quickened healing, it's not enough for you to do anything actually useful with. When we were locked into that seal by that Hokage of yours, I had a lot of time to think. And there, I came up with the answer.'**_

Naruto kept walking through the forest, a pensive look coming over his face. _'What is it?'_

'_**Whoever sealed me into you wanted us to work together. I can think of no other explanation.'**_

Naruto's eyes widened. _'Why in the world would I ever work with you? You've ruined my LIFE! Killed the only person that ever cared about me!'_

'_**I have. It was fun too.'**_

Naruto clenched his jaw. _'Why? Why would you kill the Third if you came to this conclusion? Why would you hurt me so much? Why would you make your goals damn near unachievable?'_

Kyuubi laughed. _**'First off, my goals aren't limited to you at all. Don't flatter yourself, brat. I'll explain why though. Have you ever heard of breaking a person?'**_

Naruto scratched his head. _'No, what does that mean?'_

'_**Essentially, it means causing a person so much mental or physical pain that their spirit breaks, that they completely become your slave.'**_

'_You wanted to break me.'_

'_**Yes. I succeeded once before, when I first got my hands on you, when I got you to give me your body. Unfortunately, your parents intervened. They gave you your spirit back.'**_

Naruto smiled. _'They did. You can never break me again, Kyuubi. My parents believe in me, there's no way that you can defeat me again.'_

'_**I don't need to, I'm already out of the seal. I can take control of your body at any time. The only thing that I can't get to however, is the potential that you still hold. I want to know what exactly us working together can accomplish, and now that I seem to be unable to break you I can only find out by actually working with you. We're going to need to at least be semi-trusting of one another to accomplish that.'**_

Naruto smiled as he continued walking. _'That'll never happen, Kyuubi. Not after all that you did, there's no way that you can convince me to work with you. You're a monster. I hate you.'_

Kyuubi shrugged. _**'I have a while. I can wait. I'll get to you eventually, even you have a weakness, and I will find it.'**_

Naruto shook his head. _'There's a fox over there. What do I do?'_

'_**Ah, good. Catch it and bring it back to the camp. We're going to make sure that it can actually hold me.'**_

**A/N:**

**HI! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. In one of my two reviews someone asked me why I chose to tag Naruto as a character, I hope this explained it. Naruto is going to play a much bigger part in the story for the foreseeable future. I'm definitely happy to have made the first big step in the plot. I wouldn't say that it's fully rolling yet, but we're getting there slowly but surely. If you guys enjoyed this chapter feel free to review and tell me that I'm amazing. If you didn't, then feel free to review and tell me what I did wrong, or tell me that I'm the worst writer ever.**

**Thanks so much for reading! Throughout the next two week updates are going to be every 1-3 days, the week after that we'll probably have one update, as there are some important real life things coming up.**

**Review Response(s):**

**jh831: Hi! Thanks a lot for reading :D. I think that Naruto does have a reason to be mad at the Kyuubi, if only for the fact that he was betrayed by him and that Kyuubi took over his body for a very long period of time. Naruto also recognizes, even at such a young age that a Hokage has to sacrifice things for the villager. I think that Naruto would understand the Third's decision. This is all up for debate though!**

**lolol1991: Thanks so much for reading :D. I hope that this chapter explains why I put Naruto as a character, you'll be seeing a lot more of him! **


	8. Chapter 8 - Regaining Control

A month passed. Every day was the same. Being in control of his body and not being in control of his body were the same thing, he had no free will in either situation. The only things that he could do was what that fucking fox wanted him to do. Free will. Hah, whoever said that everyone had free will had never been under the thumb of a gigantic fox before.

At least the bastard had trained him properly, he could hop between trees with ease, using his chakra to augment his jumps. He could throw a decent punch now, a few times he had been forced to engage bandits. They didn't live for very long even without the fox's help.

Bastard told him stories too, all kinds of stories. How the world was when he was young, the things that changed over the years. Stories about his brothers, his sisters. Frankly, he was getting really tired of it. The fox used him as a fucking tool, something that he could just pick up, be entertained by and then thrown away again. Hah. Suppose that was the case though.

Even if he knew how to access it, he'd never show the fox his 'hidden power'. Why the fuck would he ever do something for that goddamned creature? He hated it. Hated it with every molecule in the body that wasn't even really his anymore. He hated it for taking away his rights, his freedom, his body. He wondered why the Fox didn't just escape, the seal was gone. Why did he insist on tormenting him? Why didn't he just leave him alone? It was a mystery.

He'd go along with the demon for now though, there wasn't much else that he could do. The only thing he knew was the village, and the Fox had pretty much ruined any chance at going back there and living a semi-normal life. Becoming Hokage? Hah, that was the dream of a different Naruto. What was his dream now?

He didn't know.

This realization was shocking to him, forcing him to look deep inside of his mind for a goal, something to keep him going. Something to give him hope.

He found nothing.

Shit.

He had always had a goal. Not having one seemed unthinkable to him. Before the Kyuubi took over his body, it was to become Hokage. After the Kyuubi took over his body, it was to be set free. Now that the Kyuubi has given him his body back, he no longer had a purpose.

He'd just have to make one then.

Naruto stood up, eyes filled with life again.

He would become strong. Stronger than anyone ever had been, strong enough so that no one could take over his body again. In pursuit of this goal, he'd stop at nothing. He would listen to the Fox, he would learn from it. And as soon as it was no longer his master, he would find a new master, all under the guise of unlocking his hidden power. Yes. That sounded good.

Inside of him, two red eyes opened. A giant mouth stretched into an ugly grin.

'**Interesting, brat. We'll see how you do.'**

The stage was set. The cameras were on. The public was here. It was time for the actors to do their jobs.

"God damn it, Fox. I've been doing this whole jumping routine for almost 2 hours now, can I quit yet? I feel warm enough."

The red fox, coming up to his hips that jumped next to him growled in annoyance. **"Stop complaining, brat. We need to make sure that your body can handle this before we move on to the next stage. You want to get stronger, don't you?"**

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"**Well then shut the fuck up and keep jumping. I'll tell you when you can stop."**

Naruto grumbled, but kept jumping. The Kyuubi looked at him as he took the next leap.

'_**He's not improving fast enough. It's been a month now and I've only barely managed to get him used to his body again. At this rate, I'll never get to see this brats real strength.'**_

"**Alright, brat. You can stop now." **Kyuubi said, as he suddenly stood still..

Naruto, on the verge of jumping to the next branch almost fell off as he attempted to instantly stop. He stuck out a hand and caught himself on the branch, slowly pulling himself up until he stood on his feet again, towering over the Kyuubi's current body.

His outfit had changed over the last month. Under the guidance of Kyuubi, Naruto had headed to a nearby village. Using Chakra assisted leaps and a little bit of stealth, he had managed to steal a bunch of new clothes. He had switched out his regular black shirt for a white long sleeved coat, still wearing orange pants.

"Are we finally done?" Naruto said, panting. "Thank God, that was getting really boring and tiring. I need something else to do."

Kyuubi smiled. **"You'll get it brat, don't worry about that."** Suddenly, the Fox's ears perked up, he sniffed the air briefly. His fur suddenly stood straight up.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"**Two very strong presences heading in our direction. We can't take these guys, they'll be here in 30 seconds flat. We need to run."**

Naruto nodded, suddenly serious. "To the river? We have to wash off the scent in case they're trackers."

Kyuubi looked at him approvingly. **"Good thinking, brat. Let's go."**

They sped off southwards, towards the river they had found in their first week here. They arrived quickly, being completely used to the terrain after a month of practicing Naruto's tree hopping abilities. Immediately, both of them dived in, swimming completely to the bottom before emerging at the surface again. "

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked, trying to catch his breath, not used to holding it for a longer period of time yet.

"**We hide." **The Kyuubi said, looking around frantically trying to find a place where they could hide and not be seen. Suddenly, he got an idea. **"Dig, brat. We're going underground."**

Naruto nodded. "I'll need some of your chakra, my nails will break otherwise."

Immediately, Naruto felt demonic strength flow into him, he grinned as both of them began digging, having constructed a fairly deep hole after only 5 seconds due to the boost of speed and strength that the Kyuubi's chakra provided.

"**Get in there, brat. I'll fill it up."**

Naruto didn't hesitate for a moment, immediately jumping in and letting the Kyuubi cover him with earth. As soon as the hole was filled, the Kyuubi left the fox's body, his chakra flowing back into Naruto.

'**Hello, brat.'**

'When can we leave this hole? I can't hold my breath for long, you know that.'

'**I do. We will stay here for a few minutes. As soon as you are on the verge of passing out, we'll dig our way out of here. If they're still there then we run away as fast as we possibly can.'**

'Are these 'presences' you sensed really that dangerous? I haven't even seen you this worried about anything before.'

'**That's because we've never faced an actual challenge before, the two that I sensed were strong, many times stronger than the Snake or the Hokage. One of them smelt strangely like a shark, the other had a smell that I couldn't quite place, it smelt a little like the black haired brat with the Sharingan.'**

'The one who's eyes you ripped out and crushed?'

'**The same.'**

'interesting.'

Silence fell in Naruto's head. A few minutes passed, oxygen was starting to really run low in the hole.

'Fox, my fingers are starting to get numb. We either get out of here now or we die.'

'**Fine. Take my Chakra.'**

Strength filled Naruto, his nails grew, his features grow more feral and he immediately started digging upwards, reaching the surface in mere seconds.

'Do you sense them still, fox?'

Naruto heard some sniffing.

'**No, find me that fox again, it's dark in here.'**

Naruto clenched his fists, yet jumped away in search of the fox that the Kyuubi had previously left.

Not long after, everything was back to normal. The Kyuubi was back in a far larger than average fox body, the two presences were completely gone and the Kyuubi continued lecturing Naruto.

"**As I was saying before I was interrupted, you'll get some different training. You've improved, brat, but not enough. You're improving far too slowly. I am no longer going to be taking it easy on you."**

Naruto's eyes widened. "You've been going easy on me? You've pushed me to my limits every single day!"

Kyuubi nodded. **"I have, but now I'm going to push you beyond them. You can't improve at this pace and expect to get anywhere in any reasonable amount of time. At this rate, it'll take us three years to even get you to around the same level as the Third, and that's way too long." **Kyuubi eyes narrowed. **"This is going to be very dangerous. But if you refuse, I am going to take back your body and force you to pay attention."**

Naruto clenched his fists. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"

Kyuubi nodded. **"No, you don't. Now, brat, use those newly gained tree hopping skills of yours to go find a cave, it needs to be a fairly expansive one, and not one that will break down when given a fairly severe beating."**

Naruto nodded, an absent look in his eyes. "Okay."

Kyuubi looked at him, his eyes narrowing again. **"I will know once you've found one, and then I will come to you."**

Naruto nodded again, turned and leapt off in search of a cave.

'**Fucking brat, challenging my authority.'**

Soon enough, Naruto had found a cave. It lay hidden right between two trees, a deceptively small entrance leading into a giant, incredibly sturdy looking cave. Naruto heard steps behind him, and when he turned the Kyuubi stood in the entrance.

"**This is what you've found then? Looks small." **

Naruto shook his head. "Step inside, it's actually quite impressive."

Kyuubi stepped forward, his eyes widening a little bit. **"Holy shit, this is big enough to fit me at my full size, how the hell did this get here How did we not notice?"**

Naruto shrugged. "No idea." He turned to look at the Kyuubi. "Is this big enough for you, then?"

Kyuubi nodded. **"Yes. It'll do just fine. Now hold on, I need your body for this."**

Naruto clenched his fists again, as he felt the familiar influence of the Kyuubi wrenching him away from the controls. He felt his body being forced to go down on hands and knees, a chakra cloak slowly growing around his body. Tails lashed out as the Kyuubi reshaped the cave using pure chakra.

An hour passed before he was done, the previously circular and rough looking cave was now a large square, with a giant pit in the middle. There was a small doorway on the left side of the cavern, leading to a room with nothing in it. There were two holes in the ceiling, the daylight shining through them, fresh air flowing into the cave.

'Wow. This is impressive, Fox.'

'**Of course it is, I made it.'**

Naruto turned, and of course the fox that Kyuubi had previously occupied was long gone.

'**God damn it, I really should force the creature to stay if I'm not in control.'**

'Creatures don't like being controlled, Kyuubi. They'll take any chance they have to run.'

Naruto felt some anger from the beast inside. **'That wouldn't happen to also extend to our current situation, would it, brat?'**

'Of course not. I cannot escape from you.'

'**Good. Go find that fox, brat, then we can begin our training in earnest.'**

**A/N:**

**Initially, this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer. I was going to actually cover a little bit of the Kyuubi's training, followed by a timeskip and then some information on what Naruto was going to be doing after that, this would have made an insanely long chapter though, so I decided to keep it this length. I think that this is a pretty good spot to end it, and I hope that you guys enjoyed reading. Even though this update is released the day after the previous one, that doesn't mean that that will go for every chapter. As I said before, releases are probably going to slow down fairly drastically in the next few weeks, because of some important things coming up. I may be able to still update daily, but at the moment, I doubt it.**

**Response(s) to Review(s):**

**lolol1991****: Thanks so much for reading, and reviewing again! Thanks a lot for your kind words, I really appreciate them. This being my first story, I'm still a little new at this whole characterisation thing, and you're letting me know that I'm doing it fairly well. I hope you appreciated the insight on Naruto's feelings at the beginning of the chapter, and I hope that they cleared some things up for you. I also hope that you don't think that Naruto is too weak, I feel that this level of progress is realistic at the moment, seeing as to how he hasn't been in control of his body for a number of years. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to seeing you in the next!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Forming a Plan

Another two weeks had passed, and Naruto had almost killed himself training. Under the guidance of the Kyuubi, he had improved tremendously over the last two weeks, now being able to match the Kyuubi with three tails of power.

Naruto had lost track of time throughout the two weeks often, the Kyuubi having attacked him during his sleep and forcing him to immediately get up and fight until the break of dawn multiple times. The Fox had only healed the most severe of wounds, and had left him to fight with all others. Naruto couldn't even count all the times he had been forced to wrench his broken right arm in front of an oncoming Chakra tail, only for it to pierce straight through and hit him in the stomach. Only then would the Kyuubi come and heal him, and as soon as that was done he was forced to get up and continue fighting.

It had been a gruelling two weeks, but also a two weeks that had gotten him results. Now, with a fully healed body Naruto felt stronger, a lot stronger. He hadn't noticed it as he kept fighting, but now he felt strength that was previously not there, speed that he had previously not had, an attention to detail that he had not possessed before he came here. It felt good.

He had to hand it to the Fox, for a demon that was older than time itself, the thing sure knew how to get a human into shape.

After the third week with the Fox, his entire outfit had burned off as a result of an enormous fireball that the Fox had spit out him, he had been forced to get new clothes because. **"I refuse to watch a naked human." **

He'd snuck into a nearby town, the name of which he didn't care enough to remember. He'd leaped over a couple of buildings and stolen some clothes from a washing line, he was wearing some sort of mixed and matched outfit that consisted of a pink blouse, and an orange pair of pants.

He'd felt a little weird about the outfit at first, only looking at the clothes when he got back, but when he put them on he didn't really have time to think about it much, as the Kyuubi instantly attacked again.

The only real sort of work on himself that he had done was cut his hair, as it had gotten a little too long to not be a hazard while fighting. He had only really noticed this when the Kyuubi had grabbed him by it and thrown him against a wall. It was almost completely gone soon afterwards.

From a normal human perspective, he looked quite weird. But fuck if he didn't feel good.

Hell, he'd even started to, well, not like the fox, but appreciate him. The Fox was his ticket to getting stronger, he was his teacher. And no matter what happened next, the Fox was the reason for him being set on the path to strength. He flexed his arms, and turned around.

"So, what have we got planned for today?"

The waist-sized Fox behind him chuckled. **"You're strong enough. I can't teach you anymore with the body you currently have, you'd need to become a Fox hybrid to do that, and while that's possible I expect you not to take that offer." **The Fox shrugged. **"Also, I don't think that by copying me you'll ever be the strongest there is. You're going to need to find your own style."**

Naruto frowned, then nodded. "Yeah, I agree." He scratched his cheek. "Am I strong enough to face those two that passed by a while ago?"

Kyuubi's eyes widened. **"Hell no. Even I'd have trouble against them, and that's when I'm possessing your body. You stay away from those guys as much as possible until you're WAY stronger than you currently are."**

"Maybe we could…." Naruto began. "No, nevermind."

The Kyuubi gave him a quick look before facing north. **"You can't go back to Konohagakure. First off, they still think I'm you. Second off, the two presences that we sensed before went in that direction." **He turned west. **"That's towards the desert, I suggest not going there either as I may have gotten us a certain amount of notoriety." **He turned south. **"As far as I know, there is nothing special out on the ocean. So that's not an option either."**

"That leaves east."

"**Yes. It does. I suggest you avoid the small village that you stole those clothes from, there's a small chance that they'll recognize them. Go further east, we might find something or someone there that can teach you Jutsu."**

Naruto nodded. "Okay, do you want to travel inside or outside?"

The Fox gave him a deadpan look. **"That's a stupid fucking question. I don't want to spend any more time in that fucking cage than absolutely necessary. If I need to take over control, I will. Just keep this body close, I've gotten kind of attached to it."**

Naruto nodded. "Will do, let's get going."

"**Lets."**

And they headed eastwards.

They travelled for a very long time, not saying too much, camping only when absolutely necessary. With Kyuubi's help, Naruto could stay awake and active for extended periods of time, not needing to rest.

Around midday, Naruto suddenly frowned and turned to the Fox. "What the fuck are we even doing? We have absolutely no clue what we're looking for and we're travelling east, away from anything that we know. We're hoping that we'll stumble across something that can magically teach me Jutsu. Even you have to acknowledge how silly that is! We're never going to find anything if we have no idea what we're actually looking for!"

The Fox turned to face Naruto.** "You need to calm down. I have a plan."**

"Then tell me what it is! I deserve to at least know!"

"**You deserve nothing, boy! Remember that the only reason that you're currently in control of your body is because I wish you to be, and for no other reason. I want to know what exactly you're capable of, and I will lead you to that point!"**

Naruto clenched his fists. 'I'll never be able to fight him, not at my current level of strength. I'm currently stuck with him, but I hope that the day soon comes where that is no longer the case.'

The Fox nodded to himself. **"Now that you know your place, here's the plan. Hidden Villages often send out little squads to go do missions for them. Missions that aren't very difficult are often handled by a group of 4, an adult ninja, a stronger one, and then three weak, fresh out of the academy ninja. We are going to find a town, cause a small amount of ruckus, enough for a weak team to be sent out. We are going to capture this team and force to stronger ninja to teach you."**

Naruto looked at the Fox questioningly. "Won't us kidnapping teams attract stronger teams?"

Kyuubi chuckled. **"Yes, it will. And that's why you are going to have to learn fast. I can kill pretty much anyone in any Village one on one, but if they send too many then it's going to be a problem."**

"Thanks, Fox."

"**No problem, brat. Now then, let's get this done. You've got things to learn."**


	10. Chapter 10 - Sharpening the Weapon

Four figures stood in front of the large wooden gates of Konohagakure. One of them dressed in standard shinobi gear, another dressed in more formal robes, and the last two looking exactly the same, wearing green jumpsuits.

"GAI-SENSEI! WHAT YOUTHFUL MISSION HAVE YOU GOTTEN FOR US TODAY?"The boy in the jumpsuit shouted.

"Calm down, Lee." The one girl of the group said, shaking her head slowly.

The taller man flashed the girl a quick smile and gave his smaller clone a thumbs up. "TenTen! You must not let your unyouthfullness show through so clearly! Lee here has such youth!"

Tears began to flow down Lee's cheeks. "GAI-SENSEI! YOU HONOR ME SO!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LE-"

The boy in the more formal robes cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Gai-Sensei. But what is our mission?"

The two man and the boy stopped embracing each other, Gai stepping back so that he could face his entire team. "My youthful team, we have been assigned the most youthful of missions. We have been tasked with going to the South-East, and hunting down an animal that has been killing townspeople!"

Lee gave Gai a thumbs up. "WE WILL COMPLETE THIS MISSION WITHIN 3 DAYS! IF WE CANNOT, I WILL DO 600 PUSH UPS WITH MY TONGUE!"

"YOU HAVE SUCH YOUTFULNESS MY YOUNG STUDENT!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

TenTen and Neji looked at one another and sighed.

"This is going to take a while."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed, cracked his knuckles and looked over at the Kyuubi, who was sitting next to him inside of the cave that they had trained in. "Fox, how much longer do we have to wait? I'm tired of sitting here hoping that someone will eventually find your trail." He looked around at the many bodies around them. "Shouldn't you clean these up? Don't bears kill their food?"<p>

"**Be quiet, kid." **The Kyuubi said, glaring at Naruto. **"The tracks are set, we've murdered these people over 3 days ago, Shinobi can arrive here at any time."**

Naruto nodded and let his thoughts drift.

_Should I really be doing this? _Hethought. _I'm going to be murdering innocents to achieve my goal, and while I want to achieve it, I'm not sure that I can murder people who have nothing to do with it to get there. _

_Then again, Ninja are never really innocent, they are always involved with everything, even the things that they really should not be. I will use Ninja to achieve my goals, they are the steps on my ladder of strength. I need to get stronger so that I can defeat everyone, I need to get stronger so that I can defeat the Kyuubi._

* * *

><p>After 2 days of travelling, Team Gai arrived in the Village of Susaro. The village had a downtrodden tone to it, the smell of death and fear hung in the air, and the members of team Gai looked at each other quickly.<p>

"Team, stay close to me." Gai said, "There should be people outside right now, and there aren't, the air is filled with death. Something has recently happened."

His team moved towards him slowly, Neji activating his Byakugan to scan the surrounding area. "Gai-Sensei, there is nothing within a 1 kilometer range that has a potent enough chakra network to harm us, I also don't see any animals that are larger than a dog."

Gai nodded, and trusting his student completely let down his guard. "Good. Neji, Lee and TenTen, you will head to the scene of the very first attack, I will go to where the most recent attack took place. Keep your Byakugan active and your guard up. Rendezvous here in 2 hours, or come find me at the South side of town if you've found something."

Team Gai nodded, and headed out.

Soon, Gai arrived at the South side of the town, and what he saw there made his eyes widen slightly. The entire barn was splattered with blood, the walls torn down with giant claw marks in them. The door was slightly open, and Gai stepped towards it carefully, muscles tensed so that he could jump back at any moment.

He opened the door, and had to instantly dodge a swarm of kitchen knives flying at him. "I am a shinobi from Konohagakure. Please stop your assault or I will be forced to retaliate."

An old female voice came from the inside of the barn. "A shinobi you say? You must be a part of the team I hired to take care of the bear."

Gai nodded, and began to walk towards the barn again. "Yes, ma'am. My name is Might Gai, and I am a Jounin in Konahagakure. Me and my youthful team are going to take care of your bear problem today!" He flashed a thumbs up at her.

Suddenly, Gai saw the woman. She had on a blue overall and a farmers hat, covering her barely even there hair. She looked up at him as soon as he walked in. "Very well. My name is Chisa Koruko. Me and my presumably late husband are the owners of this farm, or well, what is left of it that is."

Gai looked around the barn. "What exactly happened here, Chisa?"

Chisa sighed. "Well, me and Toru were sitting at the table, having dinner. The kids moved out a few years ago, and even since then we haven't really had too much reason to leave our property. That being the case, we grow all of our own food. That night, I had forgotten to grab the vegetables from the garden, and Toru being Toru, he wanted some cucumber with his rice." A tear fell from her eye. "if I hadn't forgotten, he may still be here today."

Gai laid his hand on her shoulder. "We will find this beast, and slay it, Ma'am. But in order to do that, we need every bit of information that you can give us. Please, continue if you are able to."

She dried her eyes, and spoke again. "Yes. I apologize, Mr Gai."

Gai flashed her a quick smile. "Call me Gai, Mr Gai makes me sound unyoutful!"

She chuckled. "Gai, then. Anyway, he went outside to gather the vegetables, when I suddenly heard a scream. I ran out to check on him, but when I got there he was gone, and there was blood all over the barn. I immediately ran away, not knowing what did this. When I got to town, I sent a message to Konoha."

Gai nodded. "Interesting, did you happen to actually see the beast?"

She shook her head. "No. When I went back to my barn after a night's sleep in town, I went inside and noticed that nothing was missing at all, nothing was damaged either. That's uncommon, for a bear. They usually don't kill humans as they're just looking for food, but this one did the opposite. He killed a human, and didn't go looking for food."

Gai looked at her, confusion written on his face. "How ddo you know that it's a bear if you didn't see it? "

Chisa pointed in the direction of the forest. "I saw bear tracks leading into the forest, coming from our front door. I assume that it's a bear."

Gai nodded. "I must get back to my team, we have a very good tracker. I promise you, ma'am. We will hunt down this beast."

She nodded, her eyes hardening. "Make it slow. It deserves to suffer for what it did to my husband."

Gai walked out. _'She is vengeful.'_

* * *

><p>Team Gai regrouped in the middle of town, a few hours later.<p>

"GAI-SENSEI! WE ARE UNYOUTHFUL! WE HAVEN'T FOUND ANYTHING!" Lee yelled, tears flowing down his cheeks.

Gai looked at his most youthful student. "That is most unfortunate, Lee. But I have. I know where we must head to find this bear."

Lee looked at him, his eyes full of admiration. "You are amazing, Gai-Sensei!"

"Thank you, Lee!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Neji cleared his throat again, a spark of amusement dancing in his eyes. "Shall we go find this bear, Sensei?"

Gai nodded. "We shall."

And they sped off.

**A/N: I'm sorry for the significant delay on this chapter, three things are getting in the way of frequent updates. **

**1. School.**

**It's currently swamping me with work.**

**2. I have recently discovered my old Runescape account.**

**Any free time that I do have is getting fucked by that.**

**3. I've been doubting the way that I am going to end this story. But I've now decided to stick with it.**

**Expect another update relatively soon, somewhere in the next 1-3 days. Also, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo with another Naruto Fic. I will not have this one finished before that one comes out, although I am at least at the halfway point on this one. Anyone curious on what my NaNoWriMo Fic is going to be about can go to my profile, it's on there.**

**Hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to Review if you have anything to say on this story or on the idea for my next!**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Finale

Naruto and Kyuubi watched them go. A few days had passed since they had captured Gai and his team, and Naruto had learned a lot since then. He now had a basic mastery of all elements, with wind still clearly being his strongest. He possessed basic skills with every type of ninja tool, and his previously purely instinct driven Taijutsu now showed clear traces of the Hidden Leaf's Lotus. Gai had been a good teacher, even the Kyuubi had to admit that.

Naruto had grown fond of the man in the few days that he had received training, and had even began to feel some sort of regret for holding his team hostage. Even Naruto, with his limited amount of social experience could tell that the stress of having his team under the 'delicate care' of the most powerful demon that had ever existed was taking a severe toll on him.

When the man arrived, he ahd constantly been talking about the strength of Naruto's youth, but over time, that had slowed down. When they finally came around to Taijutsu training on the last day, he had looked like a robot, going through the movements of his self-developed style and waiting for Naruto to mimic them.

It had worried Naruto, he was no stranger to death or suffering, having seen plenty of it in both the Kyuubi's memories and his own, but it felt different when one was such a close witness to it.

He didn't like it.

It didn't matter though, he would become the strongest. If the only way to do that was to make others suffer then so be it. He would not give up.

"What do we do now?" Naruto asked, turning towards the Fox.

"**Now, we go and kill a few members of my family." **The fox smiled menacingly. **"We go to Kumo."**

"What's in Kumo?"

The Kyuubi sighed. **"You know that I'm the nine tailed one, right?" **When Naruto nodded, he continued. **"The two and eight tails reside in Kumo. We are going to test our abilities against them, I am personally stronger than the eight tails, but with you limiting my power we should have a good challenge against the Bijuu, there's no way that with him sealed inside of a Jinchuuriki they'll be stronger."**

Naruto nodded. "That makes sense, shall we go?"

"**Let's go."**

It didn't take very long for them to arrive in Kumo. Naruto accepted the Fox back in his body, and walked right into the gates, flashing the guards a quick smile.

'_**That was easy…' **_Kyuubi said, his voice rumbling through Naruto's head.

'_It was. That's good, right?'_

'_**I don't know.'**_

'_Do you have any idea where the eight tails is?'_ Naruto said, weaving through the surprising amount of people out on the streets and looking towards the large tower in the middle of the city.

'_**I can sense him, he's 2 miles to the east. Hurry there. We can kill this entire village so don't worry about drawing attention.'**_

'_Are you sure?'_

'_**Positive.'**_

Naruto shrugged and channelled chakra to his feet. Soon enough, he was running across rooftops, speeding in the direction of the Eight Tails. An excited smile playing on his face as he anticipated the fight that was to come. It'd be a good one.

It didn't take long for him to travel 2 miles, and 5 minutes later he landed in a clearing. He was in the middle of a mountain crater with a puddle of water at the very bottom. On it sat a man dressed in incredibly strange clothing. As soon as Naruto laid eyes on him, he stood up and faced him.

"Yo! You are the nine tailed fox, I'm about to put you in a box!"

That was unexpected. "What the fuck?"

The man stopped smiling. "I'm going to kill you, is what I'm saying."

And with that, the Eight Tailed Jinchuuriki, Kirabi, leaped at Naruto, tails sprouting from him.

"Shi-"

And then the impact came, Naruto was hit hard, slamming into the side of the crater.

He climbed out, growling at his opponent as he sunk down on all fours, he had instantly recognized that his freshly gained power would not be enough to defeat his opponent, and that he'd need the Kyuubi. 6 tails instantly sprouted from him as his entire demeanour changed. The Kyuubi was now in control.

Kyuubi looked up, scanning the crater for his opponent. Suddenly, realization flooded through him as he looked up, there he was, the eight tails in his full glory.

"**How is that possible? You shouldn't be able to form fully, not inside of a Jinchuuriki!"**

"**Yo! I'm not the Eight Tails, I'm the one your mom nails! Kirabi!"**

As soon as the man finished his rap, he began charging energy. **"I'll finish this in one blow, you're gonna melt like snow!"**

Then the ball fired, and the Kyuubi realized that he had severly underestimated his brother. If this Jinchuuriki could achieve the complete bijuu form, then this was about to get incredibly dangerous, he could nto currently access more than 6 tails of power without risking Naruto's body, and he found that risking Naruto's body was not something that he was willing to do.

This was a surprising realization. He had gotten attached to the kid. He did not want Naruto to die.

He had to save them both.

Kyuubi ran. For the first time in his life, Kyuubi turned his back to a challenge and sprinted away. He couldn't die, not now. He couldn't let the kid die. He refused to let the kid die.

And then the ball impacted.

Kyuubi growled in pain as he felt the chakra hit him straight in the back, he was lifted up by the force but immediately sucked back into the ball. He felt his body, Naruto's body slowly being torn apart, and he realised that he had failed.

And that realisation hurt.

As Naruto's body slowly faded away, and along with it his conscience, Kyuubi sent one final thought to the boy.

'**I'm so sorry, Naruto.'**

And with that, the boy was gone.

Forever.

_**The end.**_

**A/N:**

**Hey guys, Hilam here.**

**Thank you so much for reading my first story, I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This ending may seem rushed, but I felt that it had to be written right now. If I did not write this now, it'd be sitting here until the end of November. I am planning a rewrite eventually, but I am incredibly busy with both NaNoWriMo and my education right now, and those things are more important than a rewrite of this fic.**

**For anyone who felt that the ending is unplanned, it was not. I have had this entire fic planned out since I started, and the only reason that this version is rushed is because I feel that I need to get something out to you guys. You guys deserve to know how it ends, and even though it is perhaps not what you expected I hope that it was enjoyable anyway.**

**I am currently writing a Naruto fic for NaNoWriMo as well, a summary of it is on my profile and it should be finished by January. I'll start uploading it as soon as it's finished to avoid another long period of not updating, and to improve the quality significantly. **

**Again, if you did not enjoy the ending, let me know. I plan to do a rewrite of this story and I want to make both the writing and the continuity a little bit better.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Hilam.**


	12. Teaser for NaNoWriMo

**For anyone that's interested, here is a quick teaser for my NaNoWriMo fic. It's unbetaed and unedited, and this is a rough draft, but I felt like sharing it with someone. Hope you enjoy!**

"HA! You're too slow, Sasuke!"

6 years had passed since the day on which Sasuke's personal sleeping space had been intruded. The previously unpleasant intrusion had become a key part of his life. Hell, it had become a key part of his family.

Naruto had become his brother in all but blood. Everywhere Sasuke went, Naruto went too! They did everything together, from playing tag outside, to reading books about Konoha's history.

"Shut up Naruto! I'm going to catch you!" Sasuke yelled, a smile on his face.

"Yeah right! You never beat me when we play tag!" Naruto responded, nimbly jumping over a fallen tree. "The only one that beats me is Itachi, and you know it!"

Sasuke growled in annoyance, and sped up, intent on catching Naruto.

Yes. They were brothers in all but blood, this had lead to an awkward conversation when they talked about their clans dōjutsu. It had happened a few months ago, as the entire family sat around the dinner table.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled excitedly. "Have you heard? We're going to get the same eyes that Itachi has!"

Naruto's eyes widened. "The cool red ones? No way! When do we get them?"

Sasuke hesitated for a moment. "I.. don't know! But Itachi said that everyone in our family would get them!"

Naruto cheered. "Hurray!"

Mikoto and Fugaku looked at one another, and Fugaku nodded at his wife.

"Ah, Naruto?" Mikoto said, laying her fork on the table. "Could you come with me for a moment?"

Naruto nodded. "Of course, mom!"

"Mikoto, Naruto. Call me Mikoto."

"Sorry."


End file.
